Not Enough of Spaces in Dorm? Have You Tried These Hacks?

Staying at the dorm is the best part of campus life. You get to mingle around with new friends from different faculties, participate in more activities, and most importantly, you only have to wake up not more than 30 minutes before your classes start. The only catch is that you will have tiny personal spaces.

6-person Room in Taiwanese Hostel

Have you watched any Taiwanese drama featuring campus life? Those crampy and messy dormitories you saw in movies are definitely not fiction. I stayed in a 6-persons room back when I studied there. The 1.8 square feet personal space had trained many Marie Kondo-s.

So, if you have no idea how to squeeze all your belongings into your small living space, or you can’t stand your roommates’ messiness anymore, this article is the right cure for you and your roommates!

Check out how these simple tools & ways that can create more spaces for you!

Utilise Your Vertical Spaces

Look for empty walls at bedsides and on top of your desk, or the side of your cupboards. These are the spaces that can be utilised to add more storage, style, or make your room more sophisticated.

#1 CORKBOARD

Using a Corkboard to Organise Accessories

Corkboard is one of the great tools to make use of empty walls. With a small box of large head-pins which you can easily get from any stationery shop, you can pin your memo, photos and accessories to the board. It not only helps to keep your tiny accessories and papers tidy, but you get to admire your collections at all time.

#2 MESH BOARD

Using a Mesh Board to Organise Stationery to Keep Desk Clean

Mesh board is a great tool to reinvent your desk space. With some clothes pegs or binder clips, you can clip your notes, postcards, and photos to the board. Besides, you can use some S-hooks to hang your stationeries and headphones on it.

#3 PEGBOARD

PegBoard is a Useful & Pretty Organising Tool to Organise Various Items

Pegboard is extremely useful because it not only can hold heavier items with hooks, you can even install small shelves or baskets on it!

Think Out of the Box

Some people are just so creative that they can always think of ways to repurpose things. Here are two inexpensive items that are very useful to keep things organized.

#1 ICE CUBES TRAY

Ice Cube Tray can help to Hold Small Accessories in the Drawer

Are you having difficulties finding small things like earrings or paperclips in your drawer? Why don’t you organise them in an ice cubes tray? Everything can have its home now!

#2 FILE DIVIDER

Use a File Divider to Separate Your Pans instead of Stacking Them Together

Eating out often can be expensive and unhealthy. If your dorm comes with a simple kitchen, you can try out some easy recipes you found on YouTube. However, without a dish rack, it’s difficult to keep your fry pans and plates clean and dry. The cheapest and fastest solution is to use a file divider (or file sorter) as a dish rack to let the air runs through between your plates and pans.

Hack Your Closet Spaces

Your dorm closet is often half of the size of the usual closet at home. Moreover, most dorm closets don’t have compartments, they just come with one hanging rod on top, and that’s it. Luckily, we have found two tools that can create more spaces for your clothes!

#1 ADJUSTABLE CLOSET DIVIDER

Adjustable Closet Dividers can add more Compartments to the Basic Wardrobe in Dorm

These adjustable closet dividers are brilliant because you don’t need to drill holes in your closet to install them. You can use them to create more compartments to your wardrobe, to avoid stacking everything together (when you pull one thing out, everything falls out). The flat part of the divider can be used to keep folded clothes or linens while the extension rods part can be used as a trousers hanger!

#2 HANGING RODS AT CORNERS

A Smart Way to Utilise the Room Corners is to Install Hanging Rods on them

If you have corner spaces that yet to be utilised, let’s install some hanging rods on them. You can hang damp clothes before keeping them into the closet or hang your jackets, hats and an umbrella so you can instantly grab them on-the-go.

No Nightstand? Use a Bedside Caddy!

A Bedside Caddy is a Good Substitute for a room that doesn’t have Bedside Table

In a dorm, there is definitely no room for a bedside table. However, you might need to keep your specs, a book and your phone, which serves as an alarm clock and torchlight near you during bedtime. A bedside caddy comes very handily to keep all these things beside you without consuming space. If you can get a bedside caddy that has a compartment for an extension cord, it will be extra helpful to keep your phone and tablet charged.

With all these tools and tricks, you can carve out a beautiful space for yourself even in a tiny shared room. Are you ready for it? Hope you have an unforgettable and meaningful student life!